Author Joyce Carol Oates has caused much confusion with a tweet that either suggests she believes dinosaurs are alive and well and share the planet with us in the 21st century or she's trolling.

The confusion came off the back of a tweet sent by IGN Movie Editor Chris Tilly, who sent a photo of Spielberg sat in front of an animatronic Triceratops on the set of Jurassic Park.

He sent the tweet as a joke (the photo has already done the social media rounds last year with the same joke) which you can see below.

Even though Oates (a National Book Award winner) made the tweet was a few days ago and more tweets have followed, she has not addressed whether she was joking or not.

What a mystery!

This guy thinks it's cool to kill defenceless animals then take a selfie. Jerk.

It was then retweeted by Oates who noted seeming disgust at a defenceless creature being mindlessly slaughtered like this.

So barbaric that this should still be allowed... No conservation laws in effect wherever this is?

The tweet was met with a collective cry of "Huh?" as people wondered what the heck she was thinking. Did she really believer dinos exist still? Surely no. Did she mistake the dino for another creature? Is she trolling?

Twitter set about responding by making with the jokes and pointing out that dinosaurs DON'T EXIST.

. What conservation law would have prevented Spielberg from killing that fake dinosaur?

oh c'mon. not the dinosaur again. #twitterechoes

. joyce. honey. joyce dear. that's a dinosaur. a fake dinosaur.

Costa Rica. And that's easy to say when you're not the one whose national parks are being ravaged by dinosaurs.

some body stop this guy

I hope doesn't see this tragic hunting photo too:

. The man is someone called Spielberg. He makes these new-fangled "talking picture shows."

I think this is really terrible and would like to hear your tvoughts? :)

Whoa: that SAME GUY made this fish into a pet, which just HAS to be against the law... @Matthops82

Surprised one dinosaur can't recognize another one.

Even though the tweet was a few days ago and more tweets have followed, Oates has not addressed whether she was joking or not.